UPDATED: Dog rescued after being found abandoned in tree trunk

Volunteers with Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter on Saturday rescued a small dog who was apparently abandoned in a tree trunk not far from the shelter. (COURTESY)

Volunteers with Friends of the Manchester Animal Shelter on Saturday rescued a small dog who was apparently abandoned in a tree trunk not far from the shelter.

Shelley Greenglass, the shelter manager, said an alert hiker spotted the dog in a park on Front Street around 3 p.m. Saturday. The hiker said he couldn't reach the dog, so he called the shelter. When volunteers went to check, they found the shivering, frightened dog lying inside a dead tree trunk on a pet car seat.

"She looked dehydrated. She was in shock. Her eyes were totally glazed over," Greenglass said. "And she was very scared."

FMAS volunteers rushed the dog to the Veterinary Emergency Center of Manchester, where a vet treated her for ear and eye infections. "She was starving," Greenglass said. "She wolfed down what they gave her."

The medical personnel decided the dog would be better off at the shelter than amidst the sick dogs at the clinic, so the volunteers brought her back there. "They have her nice and warm and cozy," Greenglass said.

She said she has no doubt that someone intentionally dumped the little dog, believed to be a shih tzu or Pekingese mix.

"I'm just so sickened," she said. "They just left her for the cold or some animal to get her. She would have just stayed there and starved to death."

"It was almost like the dog might have been just staying there, waiting for them to come back."

The tree trunk where the dog was found is within a half-mile of the shelter.

The dog, believed to be about 8 years old, has been dubbed Angel, Greenglass said. Shelter staffers plan to do whatever is necessary to get her well, and then find a loving home for her.

Greenglass said Angel's eyes are "so sad."

"I've seen so much abuse and neglect over the years, and I'll tell you, something about her just broke my heart."

On Sunday afternoon, Samantha Stein, the shelter’s assistant manager, said Angel was staying in a foster home, where she was receiving needed medications and a warm place to stay.

“She’s getting the care she needs,” said Stein.

Stein said that Manchester Police Department’s Animal Control Division is working to find the dog’s owner.

“Because she was abandoned, we have to hold her for seven days while attempts are made to find an owner,” said Stein. “After that, anyone interested in adopting her can contact the shelter and begin the process.”

The shelter welcomes donations to cover the cost of Angel’s medical care; to contribute, call 628-3544. Stein said right now the shelter has the necessary food and medication to care for the dog.

If anyone knows anything about her, Greenglass said, “We’d like to find out.”

Invisible fences remain an acceptable method of complying with Laconia's animal control law, after the City Council voted to give the boot to a proposed amendment.

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